Ain’t Them Bodies Saints helmer David Lowery went full-on Hollywood last year with a reimagining of Disney’s Pete’s Dragon. After that though he’s snuck in something rather more low-key, A Ghost Story, which got a tremendous reception when it debuted at Sundance.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Prematurely taken from this Earth, a spectral figure who was once a man (Casey Affleck) makes his way toward his former home, where he is fated to remain forevermore. Shrouded in a white sheet, he observes the lament of his grief-stricken lover (Rooney Mara). Bearing unseen witness to her pain, the wisp stands sentry for years to come, interacting only with time as it hurtles further and further forward, the remnants of his humanity quietly evaporating.’

The trailer for the movie has now arrived, which you can see below. It should be in cinemas this summer. [Read more…]

Synopsis: ‘A reimagining of Disney’s cherished family film, “Pete’s Dragon” is the adventure of an orphaned boy named Pete and his best friend Elliott, who just so happens to be a dragon. “Pete’s Dragon” stars Bryce Dallas Howard (“Jurassic World”), Oakes Fegley (“This is Where I Leave You”), Wes Bentley (“The Hunger Games”), Karl Urban (“Star Trek”), Oona Laurence (“Southpaw”) and Oscar® winner Robert Redford (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”). The film, which is directed by David Lowery (“Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”), is written by Lowery & Toby Halbrooks based on a story by Seton I. Miller and S.S. Field and produced by Jim Whitaker, p.g.a. (“The Finest Hours,” “Friday Night Lights”), with Barrie M. Osborne (“The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” “The Great Gatsby”) serving as executive producer.

‘For years, old wood carver Mr. Meacham (Robert Redford) has delighted local children with his tales of the fierce dragon that resides deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. To his daughter, Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard), who works as a forest ranger, these stories are little more than tall tales…until she meets Pete (Oakes Fegley).

‘Pete is a mysterious 10-year-old with no family and no home who claims to live in the woods with a giant, green dragon named Elliott. And from Pete’s descriptions, Elliott seems remarkably similar to the dragon from Mr. Meacham’s stories. With the help of Natalie (Oona Laurence), an 11-year-old girl whose father Jack (Wes Bentley) owns the local lumber mill, Grace sets out to determine where Pete came from, where he belongs, and the truth about this dragon. Disney’s “Pete’s Dragon” flies into UK Cinemas on August 12, 2016.’ [Read more…]

The first trailer for Disney’s new take on the part-animated family film Pete’s Dragon was keen to show us this was going to be a very different movie to the original, while also only teasing us about what the dragon would look like. Now a full trailer has arrived, which underlines this is a movie that only shares a title and vague concept with the original, although it does give us a much better look at the now very furry beast..

Here’s the synopsis: ‘A reimagining of Disney’s cherished family film, “Pete’s Dragon” is the adventure of an orphaned boy named Pete and his best friend Elliott, who just so happens to be a dragon. “Pete’s Dragon” stars Bryce Dallas Howard (“Jurassic World”), Oakes Fegley (“This is Where I Leave You”), Wes Bentley (“The Hunger Games”), Karl Urban (“Star Trek”), Oona Laurence (“Southpaw”) and Oscar® winner Robert Redford (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”). The film, which is directed by David Lowery (“Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”), is written by Lowery & Toby Halbrooks based on a story by Seton I. Miller and S.S. Field and produced by Jim Whitaker, p.g.a. (“The Finest Hours,” “Friday Night Lights”), with Barrie M. Osborne (“The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” “The Great Gatsby”) serving as executive producer.

‘For years, old wood carver Mr. Meacham (Robert Redford) has delighted local children with his tales of the fierce dragon that resides deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. To his daughter, Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard), who works as a forest ranger, these stories are little more than tall tales…until she meets Pete (Oakes Fegley). Pete is a mysterious 10-year-old with no family and no home who claims to live in the woods with a giant, green dragon named Elliott. And from Pete’s descriptions, Elliott seems remarkably similar to the dragon from Mr. Meacham’s stories. With the help of Natalie (Oona Laurence), an 11-year-old girl whose father Jack (Wes Bentley) owns the local lumber mill, Grace sets out to determine where Pete came from, where he belongs, and the truth about this dragon. Disney’s “Pete’s Dragon” flies into UK Cinemas on August 12, 2016.’ [Read more…]

With Disney developing or making live-action movies based on a vast array of their animated classics – the latest being the newly released The Jungle Book – it’s almost surprising they haven’t been developing a Peter Pan movie. The reason is likely that in the past few years various studios have been working on Neverland stories.

Now it seems as if Disney was waiting to see whether Joe Wright’s Pan would be a success, as now that has massively flopped, Deadline reports that the House Of Mouse is working on a Peter Pan live-action film. Ain’t Them Bodies Saints’ David Lowery, who’s been working with Disney on a new version of Pete’s Dragon, will direct from a script by Toby Halbrooks.

Technically this is the second live-action Pan-based movie Disney is working on, as they’re also developing a Tinker Bell film with Reese Witherspoon attached to play the fairy. It’s now known if the plan if to link the two movies together in any way.

The first teaser trailer for Disney’s new take on the part-animated family gilm Pete’s Dragon shows that it is going to be a very different movie from the original. Indeed, other than the title it doesn’t look like there’s going to be a vast amount to link the two.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘A reimagining of Disney’s cherished family film, “Pete’s Dragon” is the adventure of an orphaned boy named Pete and his best friend Elliott, who just so happens to be a dragon. “Pete’s Dragon” stars Bryce Dallas Howard (“Jurassic World”), Oakes Fegley (“This is Where I Leave You”), Wes Bentley (“The Hunger Games”), Karl Urban (“Star Trek”), Oona Laurence (“Southpaw”) and Oscar® winner Robert Redford (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”). The film, which is directed by David Lowery (“Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”), is written by Lowery & Toby Halbrooks based on a story by Seton I. Miller and S.S. Field and produced by Jim Whitaker, p.g.a. (“The Finest Hours,” “Friday Night Lights”), with Barrie M. Osborne (“The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” “The Great Gatsby”) serving as executive producer.

‘For years, old wood carver Mr. Meacham (Robert Redford) has delighted local children with his tales of the fierce dragon that resides deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. To his daughter, Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard), who works as a forest ranger, these stories are little more than tall tales…until she meets Pete (Oakes Fegley). Pete is a mysterious 10-year-old with no family and no home who claims to live in the woods with a giant, green dragon named Elliott. And from Pete’s descriptions, Elliott seems remarkably similar to the dragon from Mr. Meacham’s stories. With the help of Natalie (Oona Laurence), an 11-year-old girl whose father Jack (Wes Bentley) owns the local lumber mill, Grace sets out to determine where Pete came from, where he belongs, and the truth about this dragon. Disney’s “Pete’s Dragon” flies into UK Cinemas on August 12, 2016.’

A few weeks ago Michael C. Hall signed up to appear in Disney’s planned remake of Pete’s Dragon, but it seems he’s had to leave for some reason – although it’s not clear why – and has been replaced by Karl Urban, according to TheWrap.

However as when Hall signed up, there’s still no news on what character he’ll be portraying.

The original 1977 movie was a mix of live-action and animation, about a boy who escapes his horrible adoptive parents and befriends a dragon called Elliott. This time around the dragon with be CGI, and the story will also be rather different (it also won’t be a musical). Here Pete was raised in a forest by the dragon after his parents died in a car accident. He has to take on a group of loggers who are cutting down all of the trees.

Robert Redford is set play a local who tells tall tales involving dragons that no one believes, the equivalent of Mickey Rooney’s Lampie from the original. Bryce Dallas Howard, Wes Bentley and Oona Laurence will also star.

David Lowery is directing from a script he co-wrote with Toby Halbrooks. It’s believed the movie will start shooting in the next couple of months.

Disney’s planned remake of Pete’s Dragon is now fast coming together. The likes of Oakes Fegley, Robert Redford, Bryce Dallas Howard and Oona Laurence are already onboard, and now TheWrap reports that Wes Bentley (American Beauty, Hunger Games) has signed on too.

The original 1977 movie was a mix of live-action and animation, about a boy who escapes his horrible adoptive parents and befriends a dragon called Elliott. This time around the dragon with be CGI, and the story will also be rather different (it also won’t be a musical). Here Pete was raised in a forest by the dragon after his parents died in a car accident. He has to take on a group of loggers who are cutting down all of the trees.

Robert Redford is set play a local who tells tall tales involving dragons that no one believes, the equivalent of Mickey Rooney’s Lampie from the original.

It’s not known exactly who Bentley will be, although it is known that the filmmakers have been on the lookout for a mill owner and his greedy brother, so Wes may have scored one of those roles.

David Lowery is directing from a script he co-wrote with Toby Halbrooks. It’s believed the movie will start shooting in the next couple of months.

Disney is slowly piecing together it’s remake of Pete’s Dragon, with Robert Redford already in talks and young Oakes Fegley due to play Pete. Now another actor is being eyed, as Bryce Dallas Howard may be the female lead, according to Variety.

It’s not known exactly who Bryce Dallas Howard would play. She could be a character similar to Nora (Helen Reddy) from the original Pete’s Dragon, although the plot of the remake is rather different so she could be someone very different.

This time around the dragon with be CGI, and the story will also be rather different (it also won’t be a musical). This time around Pete was raised in a forest by the dragon after his parents died in a car accident. He has to take on a group of loggers who are cutting down all of the trees.

Redford will play a local who tells tall tales involving dragons that no one believes, the equivalent of Mickey Rooney’s Lampie from the original. If Howard is playing a Nora-like character, that would mean she is his daughter, although that’s certainly not clear at the moment.

David Lowery is directing from a script he co-wrote with Toby Halbrooks.

For quite a while Disney has been developing a remake of the classic Pete’s Dragon, with David Lowery (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints) directing. A few weeks ago they found their Pete in the form of young Oakes Fegley. Now they’re trying to get someone else to sign on the dotted line – Robert Redford.

The original 1977 movie featured a mixture of live-action and animation. It was about a young boy and his (animated) pet dragon who run away to a new town to escape Pete’s abusive adoptive parents.

This time around the dragon with be CGI, and the story will also be rather different. This time around Pete was raised in a forest by the dragon after his parents died in a car accident. He has to take on a group of loggers who are cutting down all of the trees. Oona Laurence is also onbaord as a mill owner’s daughter.

Redford would play a local who tells tall tales involving dragons that no one believes. It seems he would be the equivalent of Lampie from the original, memorably played by Mickey Rooney.

Lots of new movies have been announced at Cannes and now it’s time for one more, with THR reporting that Benedict Cumberbatch, Tye Sheridan, and Will Poulter will star in The Yellow Birds, with David Lowery directing.

The film is an adaptation of Iraq veteran Kevin Powers’ modern war novel about ‘two soldiers, 21-year-old Private Bartle and 18-year old Private Murphy, who meet in boot camp. Bartle made a promise to Murphy’s mother to guide him home safely and takes the young private under his wing, but soon finds that promise hard to keep as they navigate a war where casual atrocity is a daily occurrence.’

Tom Wolfe has referred to the book as “All Quiet on the Western Front for America’s Arab wars.”

It’s not 100% clear who the actors will play, as Variety suggests it’ll be Cumberbatch and Sheridan as the young soldiers, but Benedict seems a lot old at 37 to play a 21-year-old. It’s more likely Sheridan and Poulter will be the young men, leaving Cumberbatch as an older soldier (presumably their CO).